Letters to the Editor: America needs to fight climate change like it’s World War III

To the editor: Finally! The Times placed the climate emergency front page and above the fold, where it belongs.

Science proves that the intensity, size and duration of today’s fires are indisputably linked to higher temperatures caused by climate change. Contributing factors abound: fire suppression policies in forest management and increased development in the wild land/urban interface. But climate change is the force multiplier, as the U.S. military concludes.

We need a World War-type effort to transition to a fossil-fuel free economy, which will help us exit this COVID-19 recession. We need a price on carbon as the foundation. HR 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, would put a price on carbon. It would then return the revenue to the populace — growing the economy, driving down fossil fuel use and saving lives through reduced pollution.

Judith Trumbo, La Cañada Flintridge

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To the editor: Thanks for taking the wraps off the elephant in the room and calling our current situation what it is: a climate apocalypse. The sad thing is we could have avoided this. We know how to get electricity from the sun and wind and other renewable sources, and how to use that electricity. We just need to do it. And California can’t do it alone. Every state in the union must turn to 100% renewable electricity.

We have to start now; we can’t wait any longer. If we had started to transition away from fossil fuels back in 1988, when James Hansen testified to Congress that climate change was happening, we would be there now.

Murray Zichlinsky, Long Beach

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To the editor: The Times did a commendable job linking fossil-fuel-induced global heating to record-breaking temperatures and the fires raging in California, but left out was Gov. Newsom’s reprehensible role in accelerating the climate crisis. His administration has ramped up oil and gas permits, quietly ending a moratorium on fracking permits in April. And he has so far failed to close disaster-prone storage facilities like Aliso Canyon. Small wonder that he received over $29,000 from fossil fuel giant Sempra Energy for his gubernatorial run. How about more coverage by The Times of Newsom’s and other California politicians’ roles in fanning the flames?

David Klein, Northridge